Kings' Quick, Doughty dominate Ducks, 3-1

Teemu Selanne #8 of the Anaheim Ducks goes after a rebound in front of Jonathan Quick #32 and Alec Martinez #27 of the Los Angeles Kings during the third period in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Honda Center on May 5, 2014 in Anaheim, California. The Kings won 3-1.

For one thing, there is that little matter of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, who is showing no signs of allowing Ducks’ Jonas Hiller to breathe the same rarefied air he breathes at playoff time.

There is also the dominating presence of L.A. blueliner Drew Doughty, whose all-around game is so frighteningly good, it may be the Kings’ greatest achievement if they can get him through this round without being maimed by sneak attacks from the Ducks, who don’t have to be rocket scientists to home in on such an obvious thorn in their side.

Still, the suspicion is that the winner between the two No. 1 centres, Getzlaf and Kopitar --– Hart Trophy finalist versus Selke Trophy finalist, each the owner of a Stanley Cup ring, each his team’s leading scorer and top forward --- may well determine who gets to take a run at those two other trophies that wait at the end of the playoff trail: the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe.

So far, the centres have been … well, central to their teams’ fortunes: Kopitar figuring in four of the Kings’ six goals through two games, Getzlaf in on all three of Anaheim’s.

But the bottom line, you’ll notice, is six to three, and a pair of victories --- 3-2 in overtime, and Monday’s 3-1 empty-net decision --– for the visiting Kings, who take their 2-0 lead home to the Staples Center for games Thursday and Saturday.

Alex Martinez’s goal at 12:07 of the first period stood up as the game-winner Monday, and a clever steal by Justin Williams sent Dwight King in for the clincher into the empty Anaheim cage, sending the sellout throng of 17,281 home … well, sort of happy and sort of sad.

Because there were so many Kings’ fans in the crowd, it was sometimes difficult to tell which team was the favourite.

But it’s not difficult to tell which team has one hand wrapped around the other side’s throat. The Kings, winners of the Jennings Trophy as the best defensive squad in the NHL, proved it Monday, a night when they had only 17 shots on goal and gave up 37, but won the hockey game anyway.

In Game 1, visiting coach Darryl Sutter threw his big line, Kopitar with Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik, out for the opening faceoff and Ducks bench boss Bruce Boudreau, with the last change, didn’t decline the dance.

He countered with Getzlaf between Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey, and back and forth the two big men went for much of the night --– Getzlaf assisting on both Anaheim goals, Kopitar going one better, with helpers on all three by the Kings, including a perfect setup of Gaborik for the game-winner in overtime.

Monday night, same deal.

Kopitar promptly caught Gaborik in full stride and fed him the puck for a goal 34 seconds into the game. And then Getzlaf assisted on Pat Maroon’s equalizer.

Power versus power. Size versus size.

“I love playing head to head. That’s what hockey should be,” Getzlaf said. “You’re playing against the best and you got to beat the best. (That line) scored some big goals for them late that we’d like to stop tonight.”

“If that’s the matchup Getzy wants, he’s usually --- not that we’re doing the matchup for him --- but it brings his level of play up,” said Boudreau, whose impression was that neither big centre really won the Game 1 tussle, only Kopitar’s team did.

“Ryan knows he’s going against one of the best players in the game and he loves the challenge. He loves the challenge of when he’s going against a Crosby or a Malkin or any of the other great centres in the league.

“This is something that gets Getzy’s fires going and I think it does make for a great matchup. Both lines are very strong and they play hard against each other.”

But at a certain point Monday, Boudreau had seen enough, and started to get his big power forward away from Kopitar.

It didn’t matter. The Kings kept a lot of the Anaheim chances to the outside, and Quick stopped everything else.

Anyway, there was a lot more going on than a centre-ice matchup in Game 2.

The Ducks targeted Quick with a couple of early shots –-- Perry even baited him into a roughing penalty --- but were even more obvious in their intent to punish Doughty, who played 33 minutes-plus in Game 1, another 26:25 in Game 2 and will have to log plenty more if regulars Willie Mitchell and Robyn Regehr remained injured and out of the lineup.

The workhorse of the Kings’ depleted blueline was felled (and briefly went to the dressing room) by Ducks defenceman Francois Beauchemin and, just before the second period ended, Beleskey took a run at him, took his legs out, and was penalized.

So full credit to Anaheim for figuring out the dangerous players and trying to neutralize them.

Over time, it may pay dividends. But there’s no guarantee now that it’s going to be a long enough series to matter.

When the series moves, it will be Sutter’s last change, and you have to think he’s going to like Kopitar on Getzlaf every chance he gets. Then again, he likes Kopitar versus any centre in the league.

“We’ve seen lots of (Getzlaf) over the last couple of years. We’ve also seen (Saku) Koivu against Kopy, and we’re good either way,” said the Kings coach.

“It’s not so much head-to-head as, quite honest, everybody knows they’re both top guys both ways, and in a lot of situations -- power play, penalty kill, faceoffs --- so it’s not so much coaches’ matchups, it’s just how many minutes they play.”

Getzlaf has had a wonderful season: second only to Crosby in the scoring race, with a personal-best 31 goals, a finalist (with Crosby and Philly’s Claude Giroux) for both the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award, as voted on by the players.

And then there was Sochi, where the 6-4, 221-pound load was among that peerless troika of Canadian centres, with Crosby and Jonathan Toews, that owned the ice in the Olympic tournament.

But pitching beats hitting, offence sells tickets and defence wins championships --- pick your cliché: in this series, the immovable object is winning against the force that turns out to be quite resistable.

Selke beats Hart?

It remains to be seen, but the early returns are looking good for the team with the Slovenian.

Teemu Selanne #8 of the Anaheim Ducks goes after a rebound in front of Jonathan Quick #32 and Alec Martinez #27 of the Los Angeles Kings during the third period in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Honda Center on May 5, 2014 in Anaheim, California. The Kings won 3-1.

Photograph by: Harry How, Getty Images

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Specific content such as articles, photos and images are subject to the copyright of their respective owners, including, without limitation, Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.